Convicted building inspector reluctant to resign from city job

Published 1:35 pm, Saturday, April 2, 2011

SHELTON -- Days before he's due to surrender to a federal prison camp, Elliot Wilson still hasn't resigned from his job as the city's chief building official.

Wilson, 67, was sentenced in February to five months in prison followed by five months home confinement, as part of an ongoing federal corruption probe in Shelton.

"We're still working on it," Wilson said Friday about his status with the city.

Although, instead of resigning, Wilson said his attorney is trying to work out a deal for him to retire.

He declined to comment further.

Wilson has been suspended without pay since he pleaded guilty -- in January 2010 -- to charges he lied to a federal grand jury when asked about his dealings with Robert D. Scinto and James Botti, two prominent Shelton developers.

To start sentence Wednesday

Scinto and Botti have also been convicted in the ongoing corruption scandal. Scinto, the city's largest taxpayer, will be sentenced Wednesday -- the same day Wilson will begin his prison term. Botti, sentenced to six years in prison, is already behind bars.

"We had a discussion about it about a week ago," the mayor said, adding he expects some resolution on the matter soon.

If not, Lauretti said he hasn't ruled out firing Wilson.

"That's what I'm addressing now," the mayor said. Wilson is a member of the city's supervisor's union, Lauretti, a Republican, said.

`Should be let go'

Alderman John "Jack" Finn, the only Democrat on the aldermanic board, said Wilson should have been terminated as soon as he was sentenced Feb. 23.

"That's the time when he should have been relieved of his duties," Finn said. "Someone going to prison to serve time should be let go."

In the 10 years Wilson was in charge of the building department, he received and solicited cash and benefits from a number of developers, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr., said when sentencing Wilson.

Haight said he was trying to stop such dealings in Shelton.

Wilson's attorney, Michael Hillis, sought a term of probation for his client, similar to what Haight imposed on Botti's father, Peter Botti, 83.

The elder Botti pleaded guilty to helping his son structure cash transactions in amounts under $10,000 to avoid having them reported to the IRS.

But Haight said "the nature and duration" of the men's conduct was different.

"Peter Botti obtained no personal profit ... Peter Botti was not a public official and didn't betray the public trust. Elliot Wilson was and did."

Scinto's lawyer proposed in a 44-page sentencing memorandum to forgo sentencing his client to a prison term that could be up to 27 months, substituting instead two years probation with the first six months as home confinement.

Scinto, 63, of Fairfield, pleaded guilty Oct. 21 to lying to federal agents in June 2008 when questioned about gifts made to Shelton city officials and employees.

Lauretti was the target of the federal probe, he has denied and has never been charged with any wrongdoing.